The competitive portion of the Denis Ten Memorial, a Challenger Series event held under the auspices of the International Skating Union (ISU), has begun in Almaty. In the women's short program, 2022 Olympic silver medalist Alexandra Ignatova (née Trusova) posted the best score: the Russian skater, competing in a neutral status, earned 77.39 points, according to infohub.kz.
Kim Yoo-jae of South Korea took second place with 75.99 points. Kazakhstan's Sofia Samodelkina rounded out the top three with 69.45 points. She landed a double axel, a triple flip, and a combination of a double Lutz and triple toe loop.
The other members of the national team finished in the lower half of the standings. Nuriya Suleimen placed 13th, Arika Khalimova 14th, Amira Irmatova 16th, Zere Sarbalina 17th, and Amina Alekseeva 19th.
In men's singles, Kazakhstan is represented only by Dias Zhirenbayev. In the short program, he scored 66.11 points to finish seventh. The skater botched his axel and received no credit for the element, then landed a triple flip and a combination of a double Lutz and triple toe loop with an error.
Russians swept the top three spots in the men's event. Vladislav Dikidzhi led with 107.31, Gleb Lutfullin took second with 95.79, and Petr Gumennik third with 80.63.